Marathon - Week 10

This is my first 70+ mile week after a rest week so I was really interested to see if my the sluggishness in my legs I had been feeling over the previous 70 mpw sessions was simply due to mileage or because my body was getting adjusted to the new level. This week really makes me optimistic about my body's potential.  I had quality runs all week including the interval and threshold sessions which had gotten very difficult recently. However, the run that makes me really hopeful was my long run which I held 7:30 min/mile average for 18 miles which puts me only about 30 seconds per mile away from BQ. I don't think it will happen in my first marathon but I really am starting to believe it is possible with some more time and quality miles on my legs.

I bought few new books this week in honor of my bumper sticker that Tina won't let me put on my car that says "In my dreams, I'm a Kenyan." There has been a lot of speculation about why Kenyans are such good runners and many people chalk it up to genetics but there are a few books out there written by people who actually spent time in Kenya watching them train.  The book that really seems of most value that I am reading is "Train Hard, Win Easy. The Kenyan Way".  It chronicles some real-life training regiments from the Rift Valley runners who are the elite marathoners.  They run some sick schedules, 3-a-day workouts, 140+ mile weeks, multiple days of hill training, group thresholds at sub-5:00 min/mile pace.  For my next marathon I think I am going to see if I can incorporate some of these things, especially the hill training into my schedule as I really think the harder you train, the easier the race will be.

On a side note, I am in 9th place in the Nashoba Valley Grand Prix Road Race Series and could probably have been higher if the 10K was now since my fitness level is so much higher.  It got me thinking about adding some new goals to my goals page, so I added one for placing in my age group, winning my age group and winning a race.  I hope to do the first one in the Maynard Road Race, just one year after I stampered across the finish line.  I will have to run around 6:30 pace to do it based on last years results, which equates to about a 20 minute 5K, so my goal is going to be to try and break 20 minutes.  I've done some test runs to see how my low end speed stacks up and I have been able to run miles between 6:00 and 6:20 the question is, can I maintain that for 3 straight miles or not?

Weekly Total: 74 miles.

Monday:		44 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Tuesday:		AM: Intervals 3x[800@6:47; 400@6:27; 400@5:50; 1200@6:53]. 10 miles PM: 50 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Wednesday:		56 minutes easy. 7 miles.
Thursday:		AM: 65 minutes threshold @ 7:00 + C/D. 11 miles PM: 48 minutes easy. 6 miles.
Friday:		Rest
Saturday:		Long Run @ 7:40. 22 miles.
Sunday:		47 minutes easy. 6 miles.